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In my research on the persistent doping issue in weightlifting, as well as most other sports, I've been going through the US Olympic Committee web site.

If you've paid any attention to excuses given for positive drug tests, putting blame on sports

Supplements can have all kinds of crazy ingredients, which may or may not be listed. Don't get caught with a positive drug test because you didn't know what you were taking.

supplement usage is probably the most common. Being unaware of a violation to a drug use violation is not really acceptable, but I'm certain it does happen in some percentage of the doping cases.

If you take supplements, then you may want to use this APP. It's called Supplement 411 and can be found in the Google Play APP store, but you can read more about it on the Olympic Committee web site. I found it to be slow and it does have some bugs, but it also has some great information. Of course, there are new supplements every day, as well as formula changes, so the list will never be complete.

The High Risk List is likely to be the most useful. Once you find the supplement you are looking for, you can click on the name and the link will take you to more detailed information, including: a packaging photo, the FDA nutritional chart, a Classification of the WADA violation category, and extra Notes section.

The example I looked up is ABsolute Fuel, manufactured by BioScience Institute, Inc., with a Classification of S6. Stimulants. The Notes sections is as follows: "Testing of Lot #13338007 revealed the presence of oxilofrine (also known as methylsynephrine). The FDA has clarified that methylsynephrine is not an allowable dietary ingredient. For more information please see USADA's FAQ on illegal Dietary Supplement Ingredients. The product label also includes a warning for athletes to consult their sport organization for restrictions on the use of dietary suplements."

TEHRAN, Iran -- U.S. wrestlers have been banned from participation in the Freestyle World Cup, as reported by Iran's official news agency. The ban is the first official response in previously threatened retaliation to President Donald Trump's executive order banning travel Visas for Iranian citizens.

"Eventually the visit by the U.S. freestyle wrestling team was opposed," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi, referring to a special committee review of the event.

The Freestyle World Cup is to take place Feb. 16-17 in the Iranian western city of Kermanshah. Wikipedia states, "Wrestling World Cup is an international wrestling competition among teams representing member nations of the United World Wrestling (UWW) the sport's global governing body. The championships have been conducted every year since the 1973 tournament. The World Cup began as a dual-meet competition for the top teams on each continent, but now features the top teams in the rankings of the previous year's world championships." The first Freestyle World Cup took place in Toledo, Ohio, where it has been held a total of 17 times. It has been held a total 29 times in the United States. Iran has held the event five times.

Weightlifting doesn't get much media attention. Of course, as soon as it goes away, then it makes the news!

The CEO of Weightlifting USA, the branch of the US Olympic Committee that covers weightlifting, was the bearer of bad news on NPR.

Norbert Schemansky 1964 Weightlifting Nationals Poster AAU y.

It turns out that the executive order with the immigration and refugee ban, signed by President Donald Trump on Friday, January 27, 2016, will have an impact on the sport of weightlifting and every other Olympic sport. The ban prohibits travel from Iran to the U.S. for the next 90 days from the date of signing.

As if that weren't bad enough, six other countries are also included, the Iranian government is taking reciprocal actions that have not been spelled out yet, but they would be "proportionate legal, consular and political action and ... will take reciprocal measures in order to safeguard the rights of its citizens until the time of the removal of the insulting restrictions of the government of the United States against Iranian nationals."

If you would like to read more about the ban, check out this and related articles from the Sentinel-Tribune newspaper.

I love classic vinyl records, especially when they are done in something like cool blue!

Jack La Lanne's Glamour Stretcher Time Blue Vinyl Record - Roger is working on an article about this package and the new exercises Jack shows in the corresponding instructional wall chart.

Rarely do several of my interests so neatly come together. In this case, we have my love for classic strength training collectables and old vinyl records, so my hat is off to my buddy Tom, who found this gem. Sure, it’s not really anything that I will listen to very often. Old Jack has one exercising along with his counting reps, backed up by an organist who clearly has some ball park experience. The Jimi Hendrix Experience this is not, but the camp factor is out of this world.

Jack La Lanne's Glamour Stretcher Time Blue Vinyl Record with Jacket and Instructional Wall Chart. The earliest "Strand Pulling" course we have found is the Professor Anthony Barker Course from 1910. You can get your own copy by clicking on this photo.

Jack Lanne’s Glamour Stretcher Time album is actually a whole package. There’s the album, in blue vinyl, together with a two tone blue double sided wall chart demonstrating the 17 exercises Jack is performing on the album.

Classic Spring Chest Expander
The amazing thing that I have here is several more variations on exercises with the strand type “Spring Chest Expander”. Almost every time I find one of these classic courses, Jack’s is from 1960, I find another way to train with that tool. Now Jack is hawking his GLAMOUR STRETCHER, which is just a single strand made entirely of rubber, but it’s the same concept. In an upcoming issue of the Garage Gym Journal I will be concentrating on strand pulling, so I will actually put in an entire short article on this piece, with the unique exercises and Jack’s audio recommendations.

Complete List of Exercises

Jack La Lanne’s Glamour Stretcher Time

Warm-Up

Bicycle Exercise

Deep Knee Bends

Front Raises

Back Leg raises

Side Leg Raises

Pogo Jumps Exercise

Side Bends

Front Bends

Knees To Chest

Forward Push

Straight Arms – Cross Over

Front Pull

Arm Extension

Front Arm Flex

Flex Fingers

Running In Place

Almost all of the exercises have 2 or more photos, for nice sequential exercise instruction.

The Polaroid photo had a big thumb print in one corner. It had the weird rainbow-like oil slick halo, but the dried blood really set it off. I finally had an image of the, “Chicken Killer.” This article is his short story, but also a great workout.

I was going to title this article, “Making the Most of Your Thick Bar Training.” Like much of my writing, after starting with one idea another took hold, throttled me by the neck, did a Suplex, and after trying to fight it back, I relented and did a complete re-write. In this case, the offending concept was an old photo I remembered.

Once in a great while, I’m given a story by a garage gym lifter that most people would write off as crazy. I know my neighbors put me in the “off-kilter” category and many of my customers get that moniker as well, but now I’m talking about a whole different level of nut case.

Cleaning the Beast

The photo showed “The Chicken Killer” doing a static hold with a thick piece of pipe, weights actually hanging by shoelaces. I’m guessing this was his sandy Texas backyard, with an old Trans Am parked behind him. He held the bar at his waist with a clean grip. I’m guessing it was 2” plumbing pipe, so the diameter would be 2 1/3 inches. I have no idea how much weight was hanging there, as it looked to have a mix of plates and a big gear. The pipe also had a dirty chunk of concrete cast around one end. I took equipment orders from “The Chicken Killer” about once a month. With each shipping quote I got a story. He got the thick bar grip work concept from me, as I had told him that Smitty trained Bill March with a 2” bar. The unbalanced details were his unique execution.

The Bomb Tattoo

As nutty as it sounds, he claimed to do cleans with that mess. Of course, that wasn’t without incident. One time he broke a shoelace, as he did a clean, the remaining items swinging wide. Catching the clean forward and wildly unbalanced, he partially tore his right biceps. He never went to the hospital. The accident was commemorated with a Wile E. Coyote-esqe bomb tattoo, lit fuse pointing to the lumped up muscle near the crook of his arm.

Lessons & Good Workout

I know, you’re wondering how this fine individual got to be called “The Chicken Killer”. He always paid in cash, sent through the US Mail and wrapped tightly in brown grocery bag paper. The random bills were very dirty and would have bloody finger prints and a stray feather, or two, stuck to the mass. The guy never straight out admitted to betting on cock fights, as he was clearly paranoid. He certainly hinted at it and the physical evidence was such that York’s Bookkeeper made me count his money, never touching it herself.

Thick bar cleans are great for grip strength and help in your regular bar cleans and snatches. Aside from the obvious grip strength gained, there’s an interesting forearm benefit. Olympic style weightlifters talk about keeping the bar close in the pull position, which is obvious in bar end tracking videos and sequence photos, the tighter the resulting pull loop, the less need for a jump backwards. I talk about this in the Power Clean Clinic video. Unless you have exceptionally large hands, you will automatically flex the forearms when doing any thick bar clean. You’re doing this to get the hand under the bar during the explosive pull, because you can’t hook your thumb. This also necessitates the use of rotating bars, either barbell or dumbbell, because the resulting rotation changes from a clean “flip” to a reverse curl. It’s that reverse curl which sometimes turns into the torn biceps that are seen in Strongman Contests.*

Many lifters have a slight forward lean with thick bar work. Your center of gravity will be slightly forward, until you get used to it. If your shoulders can handle it, do Presses with your Thick Bar Power Cleans. Many Masters age lifters won’t want to do this. The Back Squats and Trap Bar Deadlifts will counteract some of the forward leaning compensation, while the Safety Squat Bar will be additional help the shoulders. The Hanging Knee Raises will decompress the spine and shoulders while providing some abdominal work.

All the best, Roger LaPointe

*There was more going on with the incident that resulted in The Chicken Killer’s torn biceps. Unfortunately, I no longer have the photo. For all I know it could still be in my old desk at York Barbell.

Training a Chinese friend in Olympic lifting, who is a very competent jiu jitsu artist, an admission of fear was revealed to me. He said, “How do you put the barbell over your head like that?”

Illustration of a classic "Split Snatch".

“Well, that is what we’ve been working,” I responded with a tinge of a question mark.

“No, it’s my English. When you snatch, the barbell could fall from above and crush your head. I fear it.”

I had no immediate answer, but the old Kid’s In The Hall skit came to mind. I quickly squashed that inappropriate response and admitted that I had never thought of it that way. I wasn’t bragging. I have fears of other lifts, but in the snatch, that result is not one of them.

Mulling the unsaid phrase around my brain for several years, I realized that it was not just a clever reply, gladly un-blurted.

There is a ring of truth behind immediate responses, like the glimpse of one’s psyche in a Rorschach Ink Blot Test. It was one of the “secrets” Smitty had tried to ram into my skull. Because of his education, I automatically break down the lifts into component parts, easily accomplished, often with significantly more weight than the related full competitive lift. As I train those parts, I’m doing something far more significant than making muscles stronger and teaching neurons to fire efficiently, I’m training my mind. By adding perspective, the very rational fears will not crush my head.

This is just the first of a number of quick listings of podcasts I've been on. There will certainly

Fiorillo Barbell Company's "Motivation & Muscle" Podcast

be more to come, as I've done a lot of them. I considered putting descriptions up, which are more than just the titles they've been given, but the web sites which host them seem to do a great job. I've listed posting dates, when they are available.Motivation & Muscle PodcastRoger LaPointe-Partials-#351http://motivationandmuscle.com/podcast/roger-lapointe-partials-351/

The Tan, or Okinawan Karate Barbell, is a traditional strength training tool for that ancient martial art. The Tan is part of the Hojo Undo arsenal of supplemental training tools. Hojo Undo can be thought of as all the other stuff the traditional Okinawan style karate practitioner would train at, that’s not the actual fighting.

The Tan shown in the photo above was made by Atomic Athletic customer Richard Rogers with a custom wooden “bar” that we made for him, with an exotic Brazilian wood that is highly water resistant. While it is a very strong hardwood, it also has multiple laminations to improve the strength. The finish is a traditional bee’s wax and mineral oil combination. Richard then took a pair of 25 pound Olympic plates and permanently secured them with epoxy, thus using the best of the ancient and modern worlds to make this beautiful training tool.

Training with the tan can be done like modern western world bodybuilding, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. The advanced movements are much more like the barbell juggling that Sig Klein used to do, which have been resurrected in live shows by the likes of Andrew Durniat and Dan Cenidoza. The added bar thickness is not just for improving grip strength, but for the conditioning movements built on the style of Zercher squats.

I went to see the stage play of The Elephant Man when I was in high school. I had heard of it because of David Bowie, who played John Merrick on Broadway in 1979. I have no idea who played what roles, when I saw it, probably in 1987. That fairly minor bit of the rock legend’s life was a huge influence on me, because, like the best art, it taught me to look at the world differently, to look beyond.

I had been a bit of a Bowie fan, because of his role in the movie Labyrinth, through which I had begun listening to his music. It was because of his acting, I started reading his lyrics and then studying him as a PR figure. I’m not a musician and I never met the man, but he will be missed. The world has lost a very special person today, with the death of David Bowie. If you have lifted in my gyms, then you have certainly heard some David Bowie. There’s always some Bowie to hear at my place. However, if you have learned anything from my writing and perspectives on lifting, then you have also benefited from David Bowie.

The first title to this piece was going to be, “Discovering New Perspectives”, but that is such a boring title. Bowie was a master of performance, with the sideways glance a signature movement. Always looking toward the next thing, he appeared to see things from the corner of his eye, which we were missing. While this may seem to be a strange connection, if you are a fan of Atomic Athletic, then you have enjoyed something that I have learned from the artist, David Bowie.

John Terry in York Barbell Standard Barbell Set Advertisement Deadlifting 460 Pounds. His official world record of 600 pounds was set at a bodyweight of 132 pounds.

I think they are a great concept. Here is where you can laugh at your author. When I was fresh and new to the competitive lifting world, I heard about a push-pull meet and started training for it. Fortunately, there was a powerlifter in the gym with an inquisitive mind. Logically, he asked what I was doing and why I had modified my fairly typical Olympic lifting routine. I was now doing lots of heavy push presses, power jerks and clean pulls. With a big laugh, he informed me what a push-pull meet is.

Of course, the Powerlifters of the world know exactly what I’m talking about, but that may not be the case for Olympic weightlifters, bodybuilders, strongman competitors and many other lifters. If you fall into that non-powerlifter category, it’s a clever name for a two lift meet with a deadlift and a bench press competition.

So now we get into the controversy. Which one is better, the deadlift or the pull? Clearly, the deadlift is better if you are training for a powerlifting competition and pulls are a training lift for the Olympic lifters of the world, but strictly speaking, unnecessary. They are not essential for Olympic lifters because the competition lifts are the clean & jerk and the snatch, not a pull – clean or snatch variety. The argument for training heavy deadlifts is certainly an old one. Hermann Goerner certainly set explosive lift world records, while doing amazing deadlifts in a wide variety of styles. On the other end of the size spectrum is John Terry, who I believe is really the lifter to look at with this discussion.

John Terry is what I call the first modern American competitive lifter. He was highly successful in the Association of Bar Bell Men competitions, setting several world records, including a world record in the 2 hand deadlift. Using the modern alternate grip style, he lifted a confirmed 600 pounds* at a bodyweight of 132 pounds. Terry also set a world record snatch of 200 pounds, split style, at the same weight class.

The argument for deadlifting is for overloading. With proper technique, you can lift more absolute weight with the deadlift that with a clean pull. The problem with deadlifting is that it closely resembles a pull, but is clearly a different movement. If your goal is to do a completed explosive lift, then the pulling with back and leg angles of the deadlifter will mess you up. The answer to that controversy was an easy one for Terry, already having the world record in the deadlift, he limited his training to a concentration on the three Olympic lifts, especially the 2 Hand Snatch.

The modern solution was provided by York Barbell, in the form of the Power Rack. By doing partial movements and Isometrics, the Olympic lifters could overload in the proper positions, without doing deadlifts. Of course, powerlifters can do the same with their deadlifting. John Terry did not have the luxury of a power rack, as they weren’t invented until around 1960, at which point Terry had been out of the sport for twenty years.

All the best,
Roger LaPointe
“Today is a good day to lift.”

*I’ve seen claims by Bob Hoffman of Terry doing 615, but have not been able to find any other confirmation of that. Hoffman frequently spoke of gym lifts in articles, which were not legitimized in a competition format. The photo for this article shows Terry in a Strength & Health ad from 1942 for a standard size 310 set, with an additional pair of 75s, for a 460 deadlift. Many famous deadlifters have advocated the use of standard size bars and plates for practice, including David Shaw.